A rather strange visitor to Ivalice
by xxlarsaxx
Summary: What if Vaan and Penelo were never in FFXII but it was the Doctor instead? And what happens when two leading men appear in the same story?
1. Chapter 1: The Royal Palace

The Doctor stood, alone, in the TARDIS. He'd travelled to so many places yet, believe it or not, he had barely seen 1% of the universe, though he knew pretty much everything about it. He was still thinking about all the people he'd lost, whether it was because they didn't want to stay with him any longer or he had to let them go. All he had left was the TARDIS. He didn't know where he would go next. After all, there were billions upon billions of places. He simply pressed the 'random' button on the TARDIS.

"Right, now where are we?" the Doctor muttered to himself, picking up his coat and stepping outside the doors. Well, there weren't any aliens pointing guns at him there. That was a good start. He was in what seemed to be some kind of store cupboard. He took a deep breath and stepped outside. There was still nobody there. Looking around the room he saw a large table, covered with a gold, silken tablecloth, walls painted bright gold and in the middle, a large, silvery-green statue.

"Now, what do we have here?" he said, pulling his glasses out his pocket. As his hand touched its smooth surface, the mouth began to open, revealing a glowing orange crystal. Due to his curious nature, he picked the stone up. No alarms went off so he assumed it was OK. He took a quick look around to check no-one was watching him. Seeing that he was obviously alone, he took out his sonic screwdriver and started to examine the crystal-like thing.

"Quite a performance," he heard a voice say behind him. He whipped around to see a rather handsome looking human man with slicked back chocolate-brown hair and wearing a bronze-ish shirt with white sleeves and tight fitting black trousers.

"Who are you?" he asked instantly.

"I play the leading man, who else?" the man said, smiling almost smugly. 'Hold on, I'M the leading man' the Doctor thought.

"Fran, the magicite," the man continued. The Doctor heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see a half human half rabbit person stood there. He tried to think of what species she might be. Off the top of his head, he could only think of a Hilker, a Gurrit or a Serraw. Though there were no humans on their planets.

"Now then, I'll take that," the human-rabbit hybrid said, holding out her hand.

She had a rather babyish sounding voice with a strong accent, but the Doctor couldn't quite make out what it was.

"What do you want with it?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh you know, this and that," the man said rather casually, as the human-rabbit hybrid walked over to stand next to him. Just before the Doctor could ask him what he meant by 'this and that', he heard the doors opening and voices shouting. Deciding the sensible thing was to run, he sprinted out the other door, only just being able to make out the last of the man's and the human-rabbit hybrid's conversation.

"Exit stage right," he heard the man say.

"The Gods do not smile on us"

"I like it better that way." Then he could hear their footsteps running closely behind him. He carried on running, not bothering to wait for the other two and not even knowing what he was running away from. He burst through the huge double doors, onto the enormous bridge outside. He saw a giant airship hovering above it, but thought nothing of it. He just kept running, like he always does wherever he goes. He could hear the shouts of the people below. He skidded to a halt and peered over the edge.

"What-" he began, but before he could finish his sentence, the airship fired. He managed to duck just in time but the people down below seemed less lucky. He heard some of their piercing final screams before scrambling to his feet.

"The Ifrit, eh? That's quite an entrance," the man had evidently managed to catch up with him, "impeccable timing. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were waiting all along…" he trailed off as the airship fired yet again. The Doctor took his chance to run.

"Stop running!" he heard the man shout, but he didn't look back. Just at that second, the human-rabbit hybrid came riding past him on what looked like some kind of hover bike. She stopped right in front of him, blocking his path.

"End of the line," the man shouted, approaching the Doctor, "you have something that belongs to me." The Doctor stared at the crystal that had been hanging loosely in his hand. Why was this thing so important to those two? It just looked like an ordinary crystal to him. Before he could think about it, a stream of soldiers came flooding out onto the bridge.

"Damn!" the man shouted, "Fran, let's move!" Before, the Doctor could even react, the man grabbed hold of his wrist and dragged him towards the hover. The man jumped onto the hover, still holding onto the Doctor. Before the Doctor could jump onto the seat behind him, the human-rabbit hybrid, or Fran, as she was evidently called, had already driven off the bridge. The Doctor quickly grabbed onto the man's wrist, as he could feel himself slipping already. He could feel the hover was swerving a lot and going up and down a lot. So this Fran wasn't very good at driving then?

"What's going on Fran?" the man shouted, gripping tighter onto the Doctor's wrist.

"I don't know. It's not heeding me,"

"Ugh, I don't have time for this," the man groaned. The airship fired again.

"Not good," the man said, just as the hover descended into complete and utter darkness.


	2. Chapter 2: The Garamsythe waterway

The Doctor blinked. He had barely registered what just happened. He looked around to see that he was in some kind of sewer. The sound of voices then made him remember why he was there.

"What happened?" he heard Fran's voice say, "our hover didn't just drop, it disappeared."

"Bah!" the man shouted, "even if we could fly, the Ifrit's playing with fire and I'd rather not get burnt. We'll go the old-fashioned way." The Doctor opened his eyes wide. He looked over to Fran. He was still trying to figure out what species she was.

"Not many Viera where you come from thief?" the man said to him.

"What?! Thief?!" The Doctor exclaimed in surprise, "I haven't stolen anything."

"So I guess you were just borrowing the stone then I guess?" the man said sarcastically. The Doctor reached for the stone in his pocket and stared at it, still wondering why it could be so important to these people. When he noticed the look the man was giving him, he quickly stowed it away.

"Well anyway, Fran is special in hat she deign to partner with a Hume," the man said in his casual tone.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said, holding out his hand. The man just stared at him as though he was a freak.

"Oh, so we're not playing let's be as random as possible? Or do you not do handshakes on this planet? If that's the case, you really should. I always find handshakes are the best way to greet people. I mean, I'm not exactly going to give them a hug or kiss them on the cheek or what have you but it would be way too impolite to ignore them. So, handshakes are always the best form of greeting, no matter where you are. You've just got to love a quick handshake. Handshakes are good," the Doctor was talking at a hundred miles per hour as usual. Fran and the man just nodded, clearly having not understood a word of what he just said.

"It's Balthier," the man said, pushing away the Doctor's extended arm, "look thief – erm the Doctor – if you ever want to see your home again, you'll do exactly as I say. Myself, Fran and you – we're working together now, understood?"

"I'll never see my home again anyway," the Doctor said, suddenly unsmiling and losing the twinkle in his eye, "it was destroyed in the time war – oh like you care." He walked off down the stairs, only to see some bodies lying at the bottom of them. He quickly ran over to them and checked their pulse. It was no use, they had been dead for hours now.

"Insurgents. Most likely they thought to take advantage of a lax watch at the palace whilst the fete's on to feed the good Consul a length of steel for his supper. I should think Vayne used to such hospitality. Clever, he used himself as the bait to draw them in then sent in the air brigade. A fine bloody banquet. Hmph, I daresay I've soiled my cuffs. If a dungeon's waiting for us at the end of the night, it had best have a change of wardrobe," Balthier could actually do long speeches without going a hundred miles per hour. The Doctor slowly got up, and began to make his way through the sewers. For sewers, they smelt surprisingly OK.

The three of them made their way through the sewers. A large bat came up to them. Quicker than lightning, Balthier got his gun out and shot it dead. The Doctor stared at him, horrified.

"I don't like guns," he said very sternly, taking Balthier's gun and throwing it as hard as he could against a wall so it shattered. Balthier was dumbstruck. Luckily, no more fiends seemed to approach them for a while.

When they got into a large square room, they suddenly heard voices shouting.

"Now we have her!" one of them shouted.

"She's not getting away," shouted another one. The Doctor looked around to see a woman trying to fight off four soldiers. She struck one of them with her sword, causing him to fly into a wall and get knocked out.

"Who would be next?!" she shouted at them.

"Close ranks, bring her down," the first voice shouted again. The woman backed away, getting closer to the edge of the platform she was standing on. The Doctor instantly ran to the bottom of the ledge.

"Jump!" he yelled at the top of his voice. She seemed unsure but the soldiers were getting closer.

"Trust me," the Doctor called up to her. Seeing that she had no other option, she jumped. It seemed to happen in slow motion. The Doctor held out his arms and she landed very neatly in them. She flashed a very quick smile at him and very quickly got onto her feet. The guards were quick to run off.

"Our ranks grow by the hour," said Fran, running over to them.

"And our troubles with them," Balthier followed her over there. The woman brushed a pretend bit of dust off her shoulder.

"Will you be all right?" the Doctor asked her.

"Thank you," she said, rather emotionlessly.

"I'm the Doctor," he said holding out his hand again, "and that's Balthier and- where are you going?" Balthier didn't answer. The woman took hold of the Doctor's hand and shook it.

"I'm Amalia," she told him, as she let go of his hand.

"Finally, someone who knows what a handshake is," the Doctor said sarcastically, giving Balthier a reproachful look. Out of nowhere, the stone in his pocket glowed brightly. Balthier looked around.

" Oh, now isn't that impressive?" Balthier said, not looking the slightest bit impressed.

"Where did you get that?" the woman asked, looking fascinated, "you stole that?"

"Nope, he 'borrowed' it," Balthier said, already making his way up the stairs.

Noticing how sarcastic Balthier was being, Amalia was constantly giving the Doctor evil looks as they made their way to the exit. He did notice, but he merely ignored her. He was used to people thinking ill of him.

The four of them reached a large room with some waterfalls sparkling in the background. Out of nowhere, they heard something whooshing violently through the air towards them. A large fireball thing was headed straight for them. As it reached them, it suddenly changed into a horse like shape. The Doctor's eyes were wide; not with fear but with fascination. But before he could even say anything, he heard a voice.

"Stay where you are," it was a man's voice. The Doctor looked up to see a man with long black hair that looked a bit like a girl staring down on them. Accompanying him were about fifty soldiers all pointing crossbows at the party.


	3. Chapter 3: To the Nalbina Dungeons

The four soldiers from earlier came running up to them and quickly placed very heavy handcuffs on their wrists. The party was dragged up the stairs to the storehouse as the guy who looked like a girl stared down on them smugly. The Doctor gave him the hardest glare he could muster, but the man didn't look in the slightest bit phased.

As they were shoved out of the storehouse rather violently, the Doctor was greeted by about a hundred people, all staring at them with either curious or angry looks on their faces. He was used to this kind of treatment, but he never asked for it. It just seemed to come wherever he went.

"They're the thieves who stole into the palace," he heard someone say in a stage whisper.

"Is that what the commotion last night was all about?" another person shouted. Balthier and Fran seemed to be at ease despite all of this but Amalia was looking around at all the spectators in disbelief.

"They think me some common thief!" she said rather loudly.

"Better than a common assassin," Balthier whispered in her ear in his usual tone of voice. Before Amalia could say something back a guard pushed her forward. She nearly fell on her knees but she just about managed to keep herself stable.

"These people have done nothing. Release them," she said, as the guard pushed her again.

"What do you think you're doing?" the Doctor didn't want someone else to take the blame for him, though that was something else he was used to.

"Don't interrupt me. I'm thinking," Amalia said in a very stern tone of voice. The guard pushed her yet again and lead her out the room. The Doctor just stood there, not really knowing what do next. They were surrounded by armed men with another hundred people staring right at them. He felt Balthier move a bit closer to him.

"You know a way to get out these handcuffs?" he whispered extremely quietly and without moving his lips. The Doctor was about to nod when he noticed the guy who looked like a girl was stood right next to them, who had evidently heard them.

"And if I did? What then?" he whispered back. Balthier actually seemed to be at a loss of words for once.

"Anyway, who's that?" the Doctor asked, indicating the guy who looked like a girl.

"Vayne Solidor. He's the Consul. The third son of Emperor Gramis, though I did hear a little rumour that he's the reason his two elder brothers are dead," the last part was barely audible. Balthier definitely wouldn't want Vayne hearing that last bit.

Suddenly, he felt himself being pushed forward by the soldiers.

"I was to kill Balthier. Not those addle pated Imperials," he heard a voice say, though it seemed to get rather distant…

His eyes blinked open. A large amount of sand seemed to have fallen on his head. He pushed himself up and shook some of the sand out his hair.

"You're awake!" he heard Balthier shout enthusiastically. The Doctor looked at his surroundings. Everything was just brown. He turned around to see Balthier sat on a bench that was unsurprising brown.

"What? Where are we?" the Doctor said in a slightly pained voice. The guard had hit him right on the head.

"Prison, where else?" Balthier seemed to be rather casual. The Doctor rubbed his head.

"Cadbury world?" he said in a cheery voice. Balthier blinked at him, completely confused.

"No? It's just with all the chocolate coloured stuff and the fact you asked that question…still don't get it?" Balthier still didn't know what he was on about. They clearly didn't have chocolate on Ivalice. The Doctor got onto his feet only to trip over something behind him, landing flat on his face in the sand. He quickly jumped back up to see that there was a grey, rotting corpse right there. He stared at it in horror. He could tell it was from a race called Bangaa, which were originally from the planet Bangat and had moved all over the universe. They were thankfully a non violent race and had offered the Doctor a cup of tea the last time he met them.

"It's not really a proper prison. They merely sealed off the lower levels of the fortress," Balthier yawned, "take a look around. We're not the first they've thrown down here. Oh, and in case you're wondering, Fran's off looking for a way out."

The Doctor decided to take Balthier's advice and look around. It was slightly more colourful outside, as you could actually see the light of day. Rays of sunlight shone through the roof and illuminated the pale faces of people who you couldn't tell whether they were alive or dead. A shiver went down the Doctor spine as he wandered through this area. He walked through the door at the other end of the room, trying to avoid eye contact with the crying people.

As he emerged from the door, he was in a large, high ceiling, circular room that was seemingly empty. He immediately jumped as something falling from the above balcony nearly fell on top of him. It was a rather injured looking Bangaa. He was about to rush to its side when another thing jumped down. It was a Seeq, followed by another one. Though their race generally was nice, these ones were branding large, heavy looking clubs and began to hit the Bangaa as hard as possible.

"Stop!" yelled the Doctor. They didn't show any indication of having heard him. They simply carried on. The Doctor could only stand there as they beat and beat it. He wanted to go and help, but it was clearly dead before he could barely react.

"He was defenceless," he spat at them. They stopped hitting the Bangaa and turned around to see who had spoken. They immediately began to advance towards him. He stepped back a few steps but before he could go any further, a third Seeq dropped down from the ceiling and landed on his head, knocking him flat out.


End file.
